40hp Enough for Skiing?

actions · 17 October 2011, 18:35

Anyone got any thoughts on a 40hp being enough to pull up a skier on combo skis? Its a Honda 4 Stroke on a 4.2 Rib.

Want to get some ski's having tried it and now being addicted to it, but dont want to waste money if the engine / boat wont cope.

secondopsman · 17 October 2011, 19:18

As a comparison im a slender 15st and can get up on skis behind my mates 4.3m quicksilver hd with a mariner 30hp on it.
Oh and im no Mike Hazelwood either.
Pete

actions · 17 October 2011, 20:01

Excellent. In which case my 11 st ish....... self should be ok with the 40 then. I cant compare myself to anything really, althoug the bouncing bomb isnt far off.

North Shore · 18 October 2011, 13:19

I had a 4m commercial searider with a 40hp mercury - it did struggle a little to pull up a big lad on two skis BUT amazingly if he dropped one ski once up it could provide a really good monoskiing expereince, one of the best he had experienced apparently - lovely wake pattern. It's all about weight distribution and I would recommend a longer than usual bridle which seems to lower the centre of the line. Only problem is remembering where the other ski is but a few inches of orange dayglo paint on the tip of the drop ski and a small piece of lead to induce a "tip up" floating position and we never lost it!!!!

Downhilldai · 18 October 2011, 13:34

With the same power, an SR4 will take longer to plane than a 4.2 Zodiac due to the deeper vee hull and flooding chamber which bogs the boat down.

wavelength · 18 October 2011, 14:31

we used to ski with a 3 cylinder volvo-penta 35hp o/b on a heavy 5m Morebas hard boat and it managed everyone thru their learning stages except for a particularly corpulent mate-but we did a lot of dragging him around in a sort of attempted drowning/colonic irrigation mode.

Good entertainment for the boat crew.
After that a 40hp 2 stroke Mariner was a vast improvement, and then a 50 Yam. So you should be ok....except that Honda o/bs are not noted for their get up and go, they tend to be the engines that you go and check the hp number on the hood cos its seems to be missing some hosses! You may need to shove the observer up into the bow to aid getting onto the plane.

Oscarguitar · 18 October 2011, 16:04

My Avon Adventure 4.0 with a 40 Yamaha 4 Stroke could pull skiers up easily and drag a couple of ringos as well (Not at the same time!). So you should be fine.

Jizm · 18 October 2011, 16:10

I used to tow with a small Avon 3.4m supersport rib fitted with a tiller steer yamaha 25hp.
Where there's a will there's a way!

actions · 19 October 2011, 12:10

Excellent. Well im now the proud owner of a new set of jobe skis and ropes. So as soon as I've tried it out ill let you know how well i got on or how much it failed.

Sent from my galaxy s2

Jus · 19 October 2011, 12:23

That brings back memories of getting towed behind an small Avon R.I.B with a 15hp on the back. It wasn't much fun getting up, but it could be done!

actions · 29 October 2011, 18:57

Well, today was the big day for testing if it would work and......

brilliant. Pulled me up with ease.

It was just as easy as using the other rib with the 80 on the back. There was no dragging through the water, simply straight up and out of the water. Loads more give in the engine to increase speed too, not that im quite ready for that yet.

40hp No problem at all.